Juan Soto had stopped halfway to first base and was pounding his chest in proclamation of his greatness to the Yankees dugout when a friend on the stool next to me punchlined the moment.
“Yeah, no more stars needed here, though … nope.”
In this instance, “here” was the media interview room at Citizens Bank Park, a few blocks away from where we were at the moment, but where both of us were five days earlier when Phillies President Dave Dombrowski more or less proclaimed his team’s greatness.
At least he didn’t pound his chest at the podium.
“Well, I don’t think we need to add more star players. We have as many stars as about anybody in baseball,” Dombrowski said with a chuckle during his postseason media chat on Oct. 15. “So I don’t think necessarily that you need to add more. … John (Middleton) is very accommodating and giving, but you’re also in a position where you’re still working with the payroll and trying to make things work for you as you go into the future with what you have.”
Quite true, except only three of those All-Stars were position players: Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Alec Bohm, who represented nearly $60 million in 2024 salary between the three of them.
Oh, and Bohm was well underpaid at $4 million.
Anyway, Soto’s dramatic home run perfectly exhibited what he is: a star, and an enormously paid one.
He was pounding his chest at his celebrating teammates because he had just hit a three-run, go-ahead home run in the top of the 10th inning in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, essentially gift-wrapping a World Series invite for the Yankees. His take for providing that moment, among others? A cool $31 million from the record-breaking, one-year contract he’d signed for 2024.
His take on his next contract? Well, of course the sky’s the limit, but whatever team is able to creatively account for him, don’t be surprised to see Soto sign a deal for more than $500 million. Could certainly be the Yankees, might not be.
As for the Phillies … nah.
Such a reported estimate might be light in term, say maybe no more than for seven years, as Soto will certainly want his deal to surpass the average per diem that Shohei Ohtani, who is only making $2 million in chump change a year because of the terms of the 10-year, $700 million deal he signed with Los Angeles in the offseason.
Yes, $680 million is being deferred until 2034, when Ohtani will be 40 years old, and just beginning to make what will then average out to be $68 million a year until the age of 50.
If that seems crazy, just remember it’s Baseball with a capital B, where payrolls don’t come with the luxury of a hard cap, just a luxury tax that some mega-corporate-backed teams find ways to fit into their third-world budgets.
Hence, the Dodgers, and yes, the same Dodgers who currently lead the Yankees two games to none in the World Series.
As an aside, the Yankees ($309 million, second highest in MLB) beat out the Phillies (fourth at $247M) in total payroll during the 2024 season, the Dodgers (fifth at $241 million) coming up close behind, thanks to Ohtani’s agreement to defer almost all of his pay. The Phillies, of course, were eliminated from the NLDS by the New York Mets, No. 1 on your payroll parade at $317 million.
The Dodgers (No. 1 at 48,657 fans per game) and the Yankees (No. 2 at 41,896) exceeded the Phillies (third at 41,527) in average attendance this season, too.
So aside from the obvious fact that big-city teams often compete on an entirely different economic planet, a glance at those numbers illustrates that expensive star power translates not only into more gate revenues but also success on the field.
Of course Dombrowski and majority owner John Middleton know this, hence the eight All-Stars and fourth-highest total payroll. The question is, do the Phillies need more to get to where they want to be? That would be, not only playing in Red October, but parading down Broad Street in November.
It’s clear they are set for the immediate future, and probably beyond, with top salaried starters Zack Wheeler (three more years) and Aaron Nola (five more) both having signed in the past year, and position players Harper and Turner each under contract for nearly another decade.
But Kyle Schwarber has only one $20 million season, and Nick Castellanos two $20 million seasons to go on their respective deals. And J.T. Realmuto, so valued for his expertise with pitchers and gunning would-be base stealers, but not so much anymore for his bat, has one more overvalued year at $23.8 million.
So for this core, it might be enough stars for one more season only before the focus shifts.
The futures for players like Schwarber, Castellanos and Realmuto beyond next season are thus in question, and Dombrowski’s thought that there are enough stars in the clubhouse, while hardly ever true, can only extend that far. What may be true is that this Phillies team trying to afford Juan Soto on a long-term deal along with the contracts of Harper and Turner would give an all-new definition to the term “luxury tax” in South Philly.
The plan then? Go hard after an outfielder capable of hitting for average and in the gaps, to play in left field, with currently arbitration-bound Austin Hays as a fall-back-only option.
They may be able to then alternate Brandon Marsh and — for at least one more long look — Johan Rojas in center, with Castellanos in right.
The infield, of course, is set, with Harper and Turner, and arbitration awardees Bohm and Bryson Stott at third and second.
They have other needs (backup catcher, a reliever or two, another bench helper), but the overarching hopes are that Realmuto can return healthier, and Ranger Suarez’s second half troubles was more injury and mirage than reality, and the Phillies’ tendency to be a streaky team offensively can be somewhat mitigated and better balanced.
Only then can the chest-pounding return to South Philadelphia in the fall.